Linda leads her best friend into the building.

"Come on, just enjoy yourself, it'll be fun! It's been scientifically proven that taking breaks from studying once in a while good for you and helps you learn You've hardly taken a break all week!"

"Yes well, you know how it is. Midterms are coming and all. But I guess maybe you're right and I should just relax for a few hours."

The entrance is done up to look like a drawbridge passing over a stream that feeds into a pond visible a ways off. Just inside the door there's a sign offering directions to the party, the directions lead to one sign and then another travelling through indoor and outdoor areas passing apartments and food courts and tennis courts. Finally their path leads them back into a shopping area and then through a maintenance corridor, into a brightly lit lobby with a single elevator door. Off to the side is are tables with drinks and slips of paper on them. Whether from their long walk or something else they all feel a bit thirsty.

...Okay then.

Linda investigates the slips of paper (and grabs drinks for both girls).

Each slip of paper has a descriptive phrase, some of them might be recognizable as song names, along with a corresponding twenty character alpha-numeric code on it. They are color coded.

Red) Heartbreak World

White) Be Prepared

Blue) It’s Gonna Be Ok

Green) Children of the Sun

Black) Year 3000

Yellow) The Real World

Linda brings the drinks and one of each paper over to where Anna is standing by the door. They sip drinks while examining the papers.

"Is this meant to be some kind of game? Are we supposed to pick our favourite song? I don't really know any of these songs, do you?"

"Nah, I don't really have a preference. Let's just grab one at random."

She grabs the black paper and puts the rest back on the table and heads towards the elevator. "I wonder if there's a sticky note on the floor number or something to show which floor we're supposed to be at."

The elevator seems to lack floor buttons instead there is a keyboard and a small display mounted on the back wall of the elevator. The size of the display seems to match the code on the piece of paper.

Anna peers at the elevator  "...This is weird. Maybe we should just get out of here."

"It's not axe-murdery weird. It's cool weird. Don't you want to find out what's up? Come on."

"I don't know why I let you talk me into these things...."

She steps into the elevator and lets Linda enter the code on the paper.

The elevator ride lasts a long minute and the sensations don't quite feel like what you would expect, but eventually the elevator doors open out onto a lounge where there's a woman sitting and eating some food. She might look vaguely familiar to Anna from some of her premed classes. There's a large backpack next to her. "Hi there, this is so exciting isn't it?"

"Um hello. I recognize you from some of my classes, but I've forgotten your name? Do you have any idea what this is about?  Because it's pretty weird."

"No kidding. I don't think we've have any classes together, I'm Linda. Nice to meet you."

"I'm Riley Winter, that was, well not a teleporter, but probably something related. I haven't explored very far yet but I'm pretty sure this place isn't built to code."

"Um, that's quite a thing to say? What do you mean?"

Pause, "I'm Anna Ingham if you forgot."

"I had, thanks Anna. Well, the invitation to the party teleported into place on the billboard, thumbtack and all. That's why I'm here, I can show you around if you don't believe me about it not being up to code, but that elevator is kinda evidence enough of that."

"....Yeah, I think maybe you better show us around here. Cause that's some serious sci-fi stuff. Or fantasy, but it feels more sci-fi so far."

"I think I agree. If you would?"

"Sure." Riley puts down her fork, picks up her backpack and starts walking. "The first thing to notice is that there are no fire sprinklers, or fire alarms on the walls. There are also no exit signs." She leads them to the back of the lounge where it opens into a kitchen. "There isn't much of note here, though there isn't a clearly visible fridge or freezer." There's a door at the back of the kitchen. "Any other questions before we keep going?"

They look around.

"Nooooooo."

Riley opens the door and leads them out into a large hexagonal room. There's a large skylight above them and a spiraling ramp going downwards in the middle of the room. The opposite wall has another doorway while the four other walls have hallways coming off of them. "The hallways have pretty normal bedrooms, the bathroom over there is a little weird though. Do you want to see either or should we just go downstairs?"

"Now I'm curious, let's see the bathroom."

"Sure." Riley leads them over to the bathroom. On the left side of the room there are a half dozen Jacuzzi sized bath tubs, in the center of the room there's a translucent circular divider that goes from about knee height to a little over shoulder height. Six shower heads hang down from the ceiling above the area it surrounds there's an entrance at the back. To the right are a collection of stalls and sinks. The back wall has a bank of washers and dryers. "It isn't totally lacking in privacy but it isn't typical either." Riley explains.

"No, It is really not. It's like..somebody had the general idea of how bathrooms are meant to be set up, but didn't get it quite right."

"Yeah, that's a decent way of putting it. So, onto the second floor? Some of the rooms are kinda normal there but there's one that's simultaneously cool and bizarre."

"More weird things, lovely. Well, at least this isn't boring."

Slightly nervous giggle. "It is not that. It's kind of a different kind of exciting then I'd planned on though."

"It's so exciting, anyway this way to the downstairs." Riley holds open the door for them then leads them down the ramp. "Normal first or weird first?"

"...You know what, lets see the weird first."

"Well then." Riley walks to the room opposite where the ramp lets out. "Allow me to present what I call the clinic." She opens the door to reveal a compressed hospital ward of sorts. There are what look like high-tech hospital beds with displays over them along the left and right walls as they walk in. The back left corner seems to be a telesurgery unit with a variety of robot arms mounted above and around the tables. The back right corner is set up as a small neonatal unit. In the middle there's what looks to be a traditional exam table with a couple small robotic arms of its own directly in front of them as they walk in. Further back behind that is what looks like a dental chair with a small suite of dental tools mounted on the same sort of spindly arms. Missing is a complete lack of storage spaces.

"...High tech. Also weird, yes. No storage for dressings and things. Unless there's storage elsewhere in the building but that seems inefficient."

"Yep, I'm not really sure what to make of it but I want to learn to use this place. Shall we go to the next room?"

"I'm game. You two medical nerds can poke around here more later."

"Sure. Onwards." Riley leads them next door. This room has a number of worktables with cabinets lining the right and left walls. The far wall has a counter with two sinks mounted in it. "So this one is probably the next weirdest but honestly it's kinda tame. There's board games and art supplies in the cabinets. More variety of both than I'd ever really expect to see but nothing more exciting than that."

"You'd think a games room would have some video games as well. Those are more popular these days. And easier to find than a large selection of board games."

"Yeah, maybe. This room doesn't seem quite where I'd put them though. There's like an entertainment room built around a big TV, I think that might be better suited towards videogames but they aren't found there either."

"Kinda weird."

"Anyway, what else is on this floor?"

"Well, there's an exercise room, the tv room, a library and a greenhouse."

"That's quite a variety of things. Somebody put a lot of work into this."

"Yeah, I got hungry before I checked further down. I'm not sure what to expect next."

"Do you want to explore further down now?"

"Eventually, I can show you the rooms on this level first if you prefer."

"Sure. Let's see the rest of this level real quick and then we can all explore further?"

"Works for me." The next room is the gym, the floor is a bit springy. There are mirrors along the side walls with railings to hold onto. There are yoga and gymnastics mats stacked in one corner and the other three have general purpose weight lifting machines in the other three corners and a rack of free weights and resistance bands along the back wall.

"Not really our thing, but it might be somebody's thing if anyone else actually shows up here."

"Yeah, I suppose so." The next room is the theater / tv room. There's a big TV at the end of the room, The left wall is lined with shelves of DVDs. Most of the room is filled with gradually descending steps with some furniture oriented towards watching the TV, possibly while doing other things. "I feel like if I was designing this place I would have had two TVs and split the place but, who knows."

"It's more like a small movie theatre. Anyway, moving on?"

"Yeah pretty much. Next up is the Greenhouse." Riley leads them into the next room which has bright daylight bulbs mounted above plants growing in planters. At the end of the rows near the entrance are large sets of bins. "All the bins I've checked have fresh produce in them. Nothing overripe or expired."

"Someone or something else is around here somewhere."

"Yeah, it seems that way. Though I suppose whatever it is could have left just before we arrived never to return. Anyway, last room is the Library." Riley leads them through the last door. There are stacks to the left and right side. The back wall is a massive window. Between the stacks are work tables and groups of plush chairs. Along the wall they've walked in through there are six computers that don't seem to quite match any computers they've seen before. "I haven't looked at the computers, this was one of the first rooms I visited down here and I figured if I started looking at them I'd get sucked in."

"Yeah, that's pretty reasonable. Should definitely check them out after we've explored the rest of the building, though. Maybe there's something on them that can help explain what the heck is going on."

"Yeah, I'm hoping for that, I'm also hoping for instructions on using the clinic. Onward then." Riley leads them down the ramp to the ground floor. There are bike racks and equipment bins but they're all empty. There are several doors to the outside and lots of windows. "Well, that suggests we can find bikes somewhere. I don't think I want to go outside just yet though."

"No, best to investigate the computers and the rest of the inside in more detail first. It's a higher priority."

"Alright, onto the basement then?"

"Sure!"

The ramp to the basement goes on for twice as long as the ones between the other levels and and lets out into what looks like the lobby of an upscale building. One wall is largely missing and lets out onto the corridor of what looks like a mall. There are signs for stores over large open storefronts. The stores are pretty normal aside from the odd absence of check out lines or cash registers. The mall corridor curves away in both directions. "Well this definitely isn't the same mall we were walking through on the way to the elevator. That one was mostly unfinished and this one's fully stocked."

"Weird place to put a mall. But then everything here's kinda weird."

"No kidding."

"This place looks pretty big. I wonder how long much mall there is to explore. I think I can probably see for a few hundred meters in both directions."

"Should we explore a little now, or save it til later?

"I don't see any directories down here, maybe there's one on the computers?"

"Probably worth checking. Without some sense of how big this place is I bet we could wander for hours."

"Upstairs, then?"

"Sounds good." When they arrive back at the library and tap on the keyboard of one of the computers the screen shows a logo with a stylized kappa and alpha with a set of labelled icons on the left side of the screen: Employment, Encyclopedia, Interfaces, and Settings.

"Ooooh an encyclopedia, let's check that out!"

She checks that out.

"I wonder what settings this thing has?"

Investigate?

The encyclopedia has a pretty long list of topics, from plant species to drugs to cleaning agents to stores. There is a search feature if they're looking for something specific.

The settings screen displays at the top that these settings are for some specific citizen, when Riley is the last person to touch the screen it says citizen 1, when Anna is it says citizen 15, when Linda is it says citizen 14. It offers a light and a dark theme. Optional speech recognition input modes, and some other minutia.

"Well that's weird, it can tell which of us is using it."

"A hidden camera or something, maybe?"

She backs out of the encyclopedia for now and checks out the interfaces screen.

"Yeah maybe, hard to know." The interfaces screen is largely empty. At the top it says 'No connected devices or employee commands available.'

Okay then, obviously the next step is to check out the employment screen.

The Employment screen has job listings for the positions of gardener, janitor, medical technician and security guard. "Oooh, if we're going to try to take jobs can I be the medical technican?"

"Do we urgently need to have jobs? I don't know if I could do any of these, well maybe the janitor..."

"I suppose that depends on what our goals are. I'm betting that being a medical technician is the fastest way to understand the clinic but I don't know what it means to be employed here."

"We're probably going to need somebody to look after the greenhouse, if we're stuck here for a while, and I've got a feeling we might be, but I don't know if any of us are suited to that.  Maybe somebody else will show up who has more experience with plants then a a couple of herbs in pots on the windowsill. We should go to the lobby at some point and see if anyone is wandering around up there."

"Yeah."

She pokes the janitor job listing to see what it says about the job.

"Yeah, I'm not sure how we'd get back."

The janitor position talks about how Janitors are responsible for maintaining the smooth operation of the facility, keeping routes clear and making decisions about facility maintenance. It also notes that Janitors have some control over door locks, home automation, teleporters, and various installation-specific controls for things like pools.

"One of us should probably be a janitor if it gives us any control over the teleporter."

"You're right, it does seem helpful."

How does one become a janitor?

Probably by clicking the prominently displayed apply button. Upon clicking it will display a short notice stating that there is a test for becoming a janitor and collaboration or consultation of notes is strictly forbidden.

"Looks like we should go through some of those encyclopedia articles before applying for anything. But first, maybe we should go upstairs and check for more people. And grab snacks."

"Alright, works for me."

They collect their stuff and head upstairs.

When they get to the lounge there are two women and a man serving themselves food at the buffet. "Hi there, welcome to wherever this place is." Riley greets them.

"What do you mean by that?" asks the man. "This is Castle Commonwealth. It's weird that this place is more finished than usual but construction goes in weird orders sometimes."

The two women look up curiously.

"Hi. Um. You should see the bathroom. It's slightly...odd. Among other odd things in the building.  Also, apparently the invitations were teleported onto the noticeboards by some mysterious means."

"Yeah, it's weird"

She smiles a bit, "But we should also introduce ourselves, I'm Linda, and this is Anna, and Riley."

"I'm Alex, and these are Claire and Emily, they dragged me here." He's smiling in a way that indicates that he doesn't begrudge them doing so. Then he frowns. "Are you just pulling my leg with the teleportation thing?"

"Nope, I have the video on my cell phone if you want to see it." Says Riley

"Sure..." Alex replies.

"This had better not be a prank," says Claire.

Riley just gets out her phone and cues up the video. Indeed it does show the invitation appearing in a bit of a light show.

"That could be edited, but I'll tentatively accept your evidence," says Alex.

"Well then," Claire agrees.

"I got dragged here by Linda. Not sure if I should be mad about it."

"Hey, it's interesting."

"Yeah, but a little more interesting than we bargained for."

"More than we bargained for too then," Alex says softly.

"Cooler than a party though," says Emily.

"So much cooler," agrees Riley.

"Anyway we came up here to get snacks, so we should get snacks and then go back down to fiddle with the computers some more."

She starts collecting a couple of platefuls of snacks.

"There's an encyclopedia thing on the computers. And there are 'employment options'. The 'janitor' apparently gets privileges over doors, and teleporters among the more obvious things, so it seems more interesting than you'd think. I was looking at doing that.  There's also a gardener job, presumably meant to take care of the greenhouse we found lower down, and a security job. I don't know if any of you would be good at either of those. There's a medical tech job, but Riley really wants that one."

"The high-tech medical room is pretty neat looking. I wonder if we could both work with it."

"I hope so, if nothing else I'm pretty sure you can read over my shoulder and consult on how we use the equipment." 

"I help tend my parent's garden sometimes when I'm visiting home." says Emily.

Claire and Alex exchange a look. "I don't think either of us is especially suited towards being a security guard," says Alex.

"Could be somebody else will show up later who can. And hopefully we won't need too much security. Though there's no telling how many people will end up here. Those invitations were pretty widely spread."

"Hopefully everyone who comes will be nice," says Riley.

"Do you have any idea how we can go back?" asks Claire.

"Maybe the Janitor control over the teleporters will do it, but I'm not betting on it. Failing that we kinda have to explore and hope something comes up." Riley smiles.

"And you didn't think to warn anyone about the mysterious party invitation?" Alex asks a bit skeptically.

"I didn't think anyone would believe me until I had more evidence and besides who knows what would have happened."

"No help for it now, we'll have to make the best of things until we figure out how to get home. At least it's reasonably comfortable here. But we can't call home and let people know what's going on, no signal. I checked."

She sighs,

"Gonna miss midterms...."

"Yeah I guess we might." Riley laughs.

"Oh no, that would be terrible," says Claire sounding completely serious.

Linda laughs too then sobers.

"And people's families will be so worried...."

She shakes her head,

"But Anna's right, there's no help for it. Just let us finish the last of these snacks and then we'll show you guys the computers and we can all see what we can figure out."

Alex chuckles. "My grandmother will get in a lot of people's hair trying to work out what happened."

Claire moans. "Clinton will be sooo worried."

Emily tilts her head to the side. "My parents might be worried, I have disappeared before though, they might be used to it by now."

Riley looks at the floor. "I'm not very close to my family."

Linda looks at Riley, "if you want to talk about it later...I'm a psychology major. I like to listen. If you don't wanna talk about it that's okay too."

She collects her and Anna's finished snack plates and puts them in the sink.

"Meanwhile, computers?"

"Yeah, computers, there's enough for all of us. If more people show up that won't keep being true though. I wonder if we can find more in the mall."

"Are you sure this place isn't castle commonwealth? A mix of retail and residential is a big part of how it was billed." Claire says, a slight hint of hope in her voice.

"The 'mall' is set up to look like a mall but it doesn't even have cash registers. And we can check the search thing on the computers and see if there are more computers down there. I bet there are."

"Oh." Claire frowns.

"I think that might be stronger evidence for something weird happening than the teleporting flyer. Videos can be edited," says Alex.

"Ooh, is there a way to program the computers. I'm good at programming computers," says Emily.

Claire's eyes go wide. "Please don't break the computers Emily, they might be important."

"Maybe they'll be lots more of them in the mall and then it won't matter if one gets broken. But we should check first."

"Maybe there is a manual for the computers somewhere on the encyclopedia? I did not see one but I didn't spend that much time going through it yet."

"I think Claire was referring to breaking the computers on a software level, not a hardware one, and I think they're networked so maybe it is a concern," says Riley.

Claire nods.

"One time Claire, I only managed to rewrite my computer to display exclusively eldritch runes the one time."

"Sounds like quite a story there."

"It was for my final project in a an AI class. I think I might have made a breakthrough but when I turned it on things got really weird." Emily blushes just a little.

"The government confiscated her laptop, I'm not sure what happened from there," Alex notes wryly. "I think that was one of three times they've classified things Emily has done."

"I'm not allowed to comment." Emily says.

"Well, if it turns out we're not going to be able to go home maybe you can share some of these fascinating stories." Riley is looking at Emily like Christmas came early.

"Either you have the best luck or the worst. Do try not to do anything exotic with the computers, at least for now."

"Alright, I'll be careful," Emily responds.

"Anyway, downstairs we go?" asks Riley.

"Sure."

Heading for the stairs.

And then they're in the library. Claire and Alex go to browse the stacks while Emily sits down and starts to read the Encyclopedia in alphabetical order. Riley starts reading up on medecine.

Anna starts reading up on medicine too. Linda starts reading about cleaning, and any information about teleporters available.

The medical texts list dozens of drugs that neither Riley nor Anna will recognize, one of the stranger ones is labelled as a Teleportation Support Buffer, intended to protect against the side effects of interstellar teleportation.

Linda will find articles on the various types of teleporters. There are two types of code based teleporters, elevators and airlocks which are interoperable. There are also trapdoor elevators and there's a description of something called a broken ring carriage zone which apparently allows residents to navigate within a specific zone of connected teleporters but only leave under certain special conditions.

Alex meanwhile has located a physics textbook and is flipping pages rapidly.

"Some weird stuff here. Interesting but weird."

"Huh. And apparently there's a bunch of different types of teleporters. Some of them look like they could be set off accidentally. Have to watch for that."

"Did it list anyway to tell when that's going to happen? That seems like it might be important to know." Riley asks. The article did mention the the symbol for one-way will be displayed near the entrance to a trap-door teleporter.

"There's apparently a 'one way' symbol that will be displayed near the trapdoor type."

She goes looking for further information about symbols.

"Alright."

There's a whole dictionary of symbols with about a hundred of them. Skimming through the list the ones that stick out will include wildlife, moderate danger, lethal danger, and a repeat of the one-way door symbol.

"There's kind o a lot symbols here. There's ones for 'moderate danger' and 'lethal danger and the one way sign, and a few others that look particularly important. I'm going to draw out a chart."

She gets a pencil out of her purse and a notepad out of her tote bag and starts doing that.

"Lethal danger... we should definitely memorize that one," says Riley.

"I'm liking being stuck here less and less," says Claire. "Although, some of these books are really nice."

More Symbols include: Wild Animals, Deep Water, Advancement, Library, Museum, Residential, Security, Food, Servitor, Manufacturing, Live Wires and Hazardous Material

"At least there's warning signs. Could be worse. We should see if there's a photocopier to make it easier to make a bunch of copies of the symbols. And not go off exploring alone."

"Maybe there's cell phones that work here in the mall? If not maybe there's at least radios? Something for people to call for help with if they get lost or hurt."

Emily looks up. "There's a subcategory in the encyclopedia for Mall stores, it has a map."

"Well, that will make finding what we need a lot easier," says Riley.

"Yeah. We should make a list of stuff we need before we go down to the mall. Probably need a cart or something for one thing."

She finishes drawing out the symbols for various potentially hazardous things and passes the chart around for people to look at.

"Some kind of setup for proper bathroom privacy is, well  not literally the most important thing, but pretty important. I don't want to shower in shifts or  have everyone awkwardly staring at the walls forever."

"I'm not sure it's that bad," says Riley. "The divider makes it kinda hard to peep as long as you're not literally showering at the same time, and plenty of gyms have showers like that. You squishy feelings people get so embarrassed about your bodies."

"Um, I second the desire for privacy dividers," Claire says blushing heavily.

"Yeah but like, gym locker rooms are usually not co-ed. It's kind of different."

"We can manage until we figure it out, but most people are going to be a lot happier if we figure it out quickly."

"Fair enough," Riley agrees.

"Oh good," says Claire.

"One of the stores has kayaks, I wonder if there's anywhere to use them," comments Emily.

"There's a deep water warning symbol. So I'd say probably."

"I think I'm going to do this job application for the janitor position now, unless anyone has any objections?"

A few moments pass but nobody objects. "If you're going to try that, I think I'm ready to try for the Medical tech position; if you're alright with that Anna."

"Mmkay, as long as I can assist you with things and learn things about the system too."

(Linda gets started on the application process.)

"Of course, second opinions are always useful."

The first screen displayed again warns that using notes and other forms of cheating are strictly prohibited. Then it launches into a test with questions about cleaning agents, teleporters, types of stains, the various symbols used around the complex and a number of more obscure topics like how to care for a swimming pool.

Linda was paying attention when reading about cleaning and teleporters and such and has a reasonably good memory. Drawing out the important symbols helped with those. (The sheet itself is kept dutifully out of sight for the duration) She has never previously needed to know how to care for a swimming pool.

Well then at the end of the test it will pronounce her mostly competent and award her the position of Janitor (Section Black, Provisional) As part of her responsibilities as a Provisional Employee she is required to spend at least half an hour a day in training to close the gaps in her knowledge. The interface notes that she now has the ability to control the lighting and environmental systems, unlock doors, conduct diagnostics on the doors, and control elevator-type teleporters in areas under section black jurisdiction. It also notes that further abilities will be unlocked after further training is completed.

"Awesome," says Riley on completing her own test. "It says I have to spend half an hour a day in training, but I was planning to spend more than learning about the clinic anyways."

She writes that information down.

"Yeah I've got to spend half an hour a day in training also. But I think I'd like to do something else right now."

"I guess we could make a list of stuff we need and then go explore the mall for a while if people want."

"I kinda want to go to the clinic and start fiddling with stuff there if you're interested Anna. But I'm open to working up a list of supplies instead. I poked around the clinic a bit before you showed up and there's no first-aid stuff there, that should definitely be on the list."

Emily looks up. "We need clothes. We should also get markers, there should be a sign in the lounge for newcomers."

Alex walks over staring at the textbook he's still holding. "Whoever built this place has a better understanding of physics than anyone I've heard of. Assuming this textbook isn't complete nonsense. I think I can mostly wrap my head around the equations but I have no idea what all the applications would be. I can definitely believe teleporters are one of them though."

"We're not on Earth anymore, are we?" asks Claire in a small voice.

"I'm interested in fiddling around with the clinic but I think it might be more important to get stocked up on things first. It's more urgent anyway."

She looks at Claire awkwardly, "Yeah, I don't think so."

"Is there anything I can do to help? Do you want a hug?"

"I um, Emily?" Claire looks at her friend.

"What? Oh." Emily gets up and gives her a hug.

"I'm on some medication. I um, I should talk with one of you if we'll be here for a while." She looks between Anna and Riley.

"It looks like there might be other treatments for a lot of Earth medical conditions, but we can probably get your existing medications if that makes you more comfortable. We can talk in private when you feel ready, I think if you only want one person to know it might have to be me."

Claire nods slowly. "I think I would want it to be in private, but maybe later."

"Whatever makes you feel comfortable of course."

Anna nods.

"Thanks," says Claire. "I appreciate it."

"I promise not to break your confidence or to hold anything I learn against you," says Riley.

"Thanks."

"Can we get pretzels?" asks Emily, "One of the stores sounds like it has really good pretzels."

"I think most people like pretzels. We can totally add pretzels to the list."

She tears a page out of her notepad and starts the list.

"We should get posterboard and tape to make a sign, that's a good idea Emily. And index cards to mark the bedroom doors. There's fruits and vegetables in bins in the greenhouse. I don't know what all is in the kitchen.. Speaking of food, Emily, were you going to try and apply for the gardener job?"

"We should look at solutions for the privacy dividers but I cannot immediately think of a good one."

"Some of that might be in the arts and games room. Might make sense to check there before we go searching through the mall," says Riley.

"There's a games room?" asks Emily.

"Yeah, it's a couple doors over on this level," Riley replies.

"There's a TV room slash movie theatre and a gym too. Quite a variety of stuff. We won't be bored at least."

"I don't think any of us were too worried about that," says Alex.

"What kind of games?" asks Emily.

"There's a pretty wide variety but nothing electronic," answers Riley.

"You really keen on games or what?"

"I like being happy about things," says Emily.

Claire smiles softly. "Thank you for still being you Emily."

"Of course, why would I stop?"

"Anyway, we'll check the games room for markers and things. we need to check the kitchen to see what's there before we go shopping anyhow. Unless Riley knows."

She shakes her head. "I didn't take a full inventory, I was mostly eating stuff from the buffet."

"So that's another thing to do."

"So we've got pretzels, first aid stuff, clothes, possibly supplies for making a sign, I'd like to see if we can get phones that work here, but that might be a bigger project for later, and I'm adding toiletries to the list. Anything else?"

"We probably want bikes if we're going to visit some of the stores. The map says there are four hundred fifty kilometers of corridors if I'm reading it right," Emily says neutrally.

"Over four hundred kilometers," Alex's voice is tinged with disbelief.

"Okay, so definitely not Earth," Claire agrees.

"I wonder what secrets might be hidden in that much mall, and if that's just the mall how much must there be to explore outside?" Riley sounds excited.

"Yeah, we definitely need bikes. I bet there are teleporters somewhere in the mall too once I can work those. With that much mall there better be."

"I hope so, I wouldn't want to have to lug a kayak through 75 km of mall," says Riley.

"Nobody wants to have to do that."

"I made a list of stores for most of that," says Emily. "There are clothes shops on the way but I don't know everyone's tastes."

"Well I don't know about you guys, but I'm not going to be too picky right now. I'm not all that picky about clothing in general anyway. Linda's pickier but not super picky, I bet she can find something acceptable lots of places."

"I'm usually picky, but um, I don't think having perfect clothes is our top priority," says Claire.

"People should be as picky as usual. Wearing uncomfortable clothes is an extra source of stress nobody needs," says Emily.

"I actually have a few changes of clothes with me." Riley pats her backpack.

"I'm not picky," says Alex.

She nods at Emily, "Clothes have to fit properly, I was just talking about style."

"Style is not on my list of priorities at the moment."

"Enough talk about clothes, we can figure that out as we go. Lets go shopping," says Riley

"Right. Bring the list Linda, and we'll go through the kitchen and games room."

"Sure thing."

The game room is closer so they go there first. Emily eagerly starts opening cabinets. There are markers and paper but no index cards.

"Okay, so index cards are going on the list. On to the kitchen?"

"Sure."

Emily looks hesitant for a moment but nods.

The kitchen has the remains of the buffet along with a variety of snack foods and some simple breakfast foods like cereal ad yogurt, and some starches like bread and pasta. Most of the cabinets are empty or hold cooking implements and dishes. There is a freezer stocked with frozen fruit and vegetables, along with a refrigerator that has a selection of drinks but is otherwise empty.

She grins at Emily, "Lots of time to play with the games later, probably."

"Plenty of fruits and vegetables for everyone but a distinct lack of protein."

"In other words, we need meat and milk and things."

"Interesting, I wonder why this is what's stocked," Alex wonders aloud, looking thoughtful. "Should we make a list now or just make selections based on what's in the stores?"

"There're several grocery stores on the route, and more restaurants than that. I picked Asian Grocer because its my favorite but I don't know what any of them have in stock for sure," says Emily.

"Yeah, I think we can get by without a detailed list since we know generally what we need and don't know exactly what's available."

"Alright, the first stop on my list is the bike store." Emily holds open the door out of the kitchen.

"Works for me. Let's head out."

The group troupes down the ramp and arrives in the lobby.

"Do you know what the button does?" Emily asks pointing to a small button in one of the corners of the arch between the lobby and the mall.

"No, I didn't notice it the last time we were down here."

"Probably not a good idea to push the button if you don't know what it does. Maybe we can find out what it does on the computers later."

"Alright," agrees Emily. "The bike store is this way."

"How far?" asks Alex.

"About three hundred meters."

"Well that's set up nicely, then."

They walk.

"Yeah, whoever built this place seems to be trying to be nice," notes Riley.

"They abducted us," yells Claire. "How is that being nice?"

"I see it more as lying by omission than abducting us," responds Riley.

"Probably counts as an abduction. Even if it's a nicer one than most abductions."

"Yeah, I guess. If I got into a cab and they drove somewhere I didn't want to go... yeah, you're right."

And shortly thereafter they have arrived. The bike store has a variety of bikes, including both mountain bikes, street bikes, and hybrids. It also carries both women's and traditional bikes. Along, with the bikes there's a variety of bike-related accessories including bike trailers for cargo and for small children. There's a spiraling ramp leading up to a second floor, much like the one in the lobby. Nestled off in a back corner there's a rack with what look to be brochures.

"Oh good they have cargo trailers, we could use one of those. They also clearly expect us to be here long enough to have small children. Which um, I am not opposed to children on principle but ---"

"Not all that keen on the idea of having kids while stuck on an alien planet for unknown purposes? Yeah me neither."

"There was also the postnatal area in the clinic, and some of the games in the cupboards were pretty juvenile," Riley notes. "To be clear, I don't want to have kids."

Alex grimaces. "I'm not really pleased with the implications either."

Claire looks at her feet and frowns.

"Kinda wish I'd got that IUD now..."

"I can't even afford one of those things. And my parents are too Catholic to pay for it. But not Catholic enough to care if I buy contraceptives with my own money."

"It was in the encyclopedia, I checked while I was reading. I'm pretty sure I can install them for anyone who wants one."

Emily tilts her head to one side then the other. "I think that might be nice, just in case."

"No thanks," Claire says her voice carefully neutral.

"Sure. Especially if we can't get a hold of the pills. I have a small stash of the emergency ones I brought with me just in case but of course I didn't bring the regular ones."

"Presumably the pharmacy will have like condoms and stuff, we can grab some of those. So IUDs are not necessarily urgent on the scale of days but I might take you up on that later."

"Works for me. I don't see tools around to attach the trailers to the bikes. Maybe we should check upstairs," Riley comments.

"I wanna grab one of those flyers in that rack first, just a sec."

She grabs a brochure.

The brochure is apparently a map of bike trails. One that suffers from a lack of labelled landmarks. The map shows the area of a not quite diamond with a much smaller hexagon near the middle of the top left edge. Given the number of paths being marked the area must be enormous.

"Wow, check this out. That's a lot of trails."

Everyone crowds around to look over her shoulder.

"Well, that puts 450 km of mall into perspective. I wonder what the scale is on that map," says Alex.

"Can't really tell without landmarks or something. So it's interesting but kind of unhelpful."

"I feel like the hexagon is important somehow, maybe it's meant as a scale. But then why are there paths inside the hexagon?" says Riley.

"Maybe," agrees Emily.

After looking for another minute Riley starts walking towards the ramp. "Anyone else coming upstairs?"

"Sure,"

Linda also follows.

The upstairs has more bikes but it also has side cars big enough to hold an adult and a small workshop suitable to servicing bikes and installing things like cargo trailers. "Well, this looks like just what we need," says Riley.

"Yeah, and there's even a ramp instead of stairs. Though there were no stairs back at the complex either so maybe whoever made this place just doesn't like stairs."

"I think I saw stairs in the back of at least one of the stores we passed, I wasn't looking too closely though."

"I definitely saw stairs," agrees Emily. "All the stores seem to have upper levels."

"Huh okay. Anyway let's go grab bikes and trailers and get them set up."

A few minutes later they have several bike trailers hooked up and everyone has found a bike they like. "Where to next Emily?" asks Riley.

"There's a pharmacy about a kilometer from here. There's a few clothing stores along the way if one catches anyone's eye though."

"Sounds like a plan to me."

They make all mount their bikes and assuming nothing catches anyone's eye they're at the pharmacy in short order.

Neither of them is that enthusiastic about clothes.

"So, what are we getting here?" asks Riley. "I think we said first aid supplies and hygiene stuff. Is there anything I'm forgetting? I'm not sure if it has prescription drugs but we can check if anyone needs those."

"Was going to go find condoms, and if we can get prescription drugs birth control pills would be great."

"Yeah pretty much. Though we could grab some multivitamins as well."

Riley walks inside and glances around. "If there's a prescription drug section I think we need to look on the second level. I think everything else is here though. Want to come check with me Anna? If there are stronger drugs it might make sense to bring some antibiotics and such."

"I'm also on some medication do you mind if I come and see if it's stocked?" Claire asks.

"Of course not, anyone else?"

"Sure thing."

"You guys have fun with that. The rest of us will find the toiletries and things."

They reach the second floor and it does indeed appear to have prescription medications. Everything is stored in carefully labelled cabinets with metal doors. The doors seem to be magnetically sealed but come open with a firm tug.

"So," Claire says hesitantly. "I'm on hormone replacement therapy. If the two of you are going to be taking care of us I thought you should know."

"Alright, do you remember specifically which hormone cocktail you're on?"

Claire shyly names the drug.

"I see. Thanks for telling us. Depending on how this is organized those might be close to the birth control pills."

Riley finds some drugs that treat common conditions and a couple antibiotics. "It looks like some of these cabinets are refrigerated for the drugs that need it. I don't think we need anything which needs refrigeration, but it's interesting that there's no visible difference between the two."

Claire pokes around until, "I found it, thank you. There's a year or so's supply here, hopefully we won't be stuck here that long."

"Yes, it must be very high tech. And hopefully we can get home before we run out of things, but there's really no telling."

"I think the clinic might be able to treat things that we couldn't on Earth. For stuff like birth control pills it'll do IUDs which are a substitute. Claire, it occurs to me that the clinic might be able to do better gender reassignment surgery than what's available on Earth, would you like me to look into that?"

Claire bites her lip. "I think so, obviously it depends on how much better."

Riley smiles and nods, "Of course, and neither of us will tell any of the others."

"Of course not. Oh, we should find a safe somewhere to lock up some of these drugs so nobody gets into them who shouldn't be into them."

"Maybe, though we should ask Emily how many pharmacies there are before we spend too much time on this one."

"Thank you for not making a big deal of it."

"Fair enough. There could be a lot of pharmacies. 450 km of mall. And um, no problem Claire."

"Did you find everything you were looking for Anna?"

"Yep. Got several formulations of birth control so people can use what works best for them."

"Good." Riley starts walking down with a small pile of meds in her arms.

Anna follows.

"There were prescription meds," Riley announces. "How goes the search down here?"

"I think we managed to put together a good first aid kit," says Alex.

"Found the condoms, also got a good stock of various toiletries."

"Alright, where to next Emily?"

"The grocery store is the next closest. There's other food stores though and maybe it'd be better to stop there on the way back. If we're doing that the only specialty stores left are the pretzel shop and the one with the satellite phones. The pretzel shop is in a couple more kilometers but the satellite phone place is a full fifteen."

"And there's nowhere closer?" Alex asks.

"At least it's not one of the one-off shops. There are some of those and the furthest of those is something like a hundred forty kilometers."

"Yeah it makes more sense to get food on the way back, especially if we're going that far. We're mostly getting things that need refrigerating or freezing."

"It's pretzel time then." Emily mounts her bike and waits while everyone else gets situated before setting off again.

More biking then.

"Well we're getting good exercise."

"Getting exercise was not my plan for today," says Claire

Emily giggles. "You never plan on getting exercise Claire."

"Wasn't really my plan either. I've done my gym time for the week."

There are conversations about various trivialities. It turns out that Alex, Claire and Emily are all working on their Master's degrees. Alex is studying physics, Claire library science, and Emily computer science.

Soon enough they arrive at the pretzel shop. Emily sets her bike down and rushes inside to get a pretzel. Here the cabinets seem heated and the pretzel is toasty warm as she pulls it out and starts eating. She pauses between bites to say "So good."

"Ooo."

Linda grabs one too.

"We should get a bunch of these."

Claire and Alex both each take one. "Definitely," says Claire.

"I wonder how this works, is the mall self-refilling somehow or are these pretzels going to go bad if they're left here long enough. Or is something weirder going on," wonders Riley.

"I was reading that physics textbook. I wouldn't bet against something weirder going on," answers Alex between bites of soft chewy pretzel.

"Like what?"

"I think I was starting to see the basis for the teleportation but around the edges, I think I also saw the tools to control time. Not in the sense of time travel but perhaps in controlling how fast time passes in an area."

Emily looks up. "How is that possible?"

"I'm not quite sure yet, and I'm a long way from understanding how the engineering works but there were the outlines of a unified field theory in that book."

"Wow. I only know a little physics myself, but from what I know that's a really big deal."

"Yeah, that book almost makes it worth it, even if I can never go home, and I expect there's deeper books and engineering practicalities here to find."

"We haven't even seen what's outside yet."

"It's exciting isn't it," says Riley.

"It is," agrees Emily, "I'll miss my parents if we can't go home though."

"I'll miss my grandmother Jen," Alex agrees. "She's the one who raised me."

"Clinton, my little brother, and my parents," Claire says completing the pattern.

Riley sighs, "Don't be such a downer, I bet we'll find a way to get home and then we'll have all sorts of new tools for solving the world's problems."

"I have three brothers and a sister. And my parents of course."

"My parents, and my sister."

"Um, are all of you similarly low on friends? Or did I just set the tone in a weird way by only referring to family?"

"Alex, you know Emily and I don't really have other friends."

"I'm a bit of a workaholic," says Riley.

"I've got lots of casual friends but not a lot of close ones. I'll miss having all my friends around, but it's not that important compared to my family."

"Linda's my only close friend, I've got a few study buddies as well but I don't really have a lot of time for social things."

"Shall we pack up some pretzels for the road and move onto getting phones?" asks Riley.

Emily and Claire nod. "Sure," Alex agrees.

"Sure thing."

So they mount their bikes and are once more on their way. After they've been biking for about twenty kilometers, they near a department store and Claire speaks up. "This seems like it might be a good place to stop for clothes and we've been biking for a while."

Riley shrugs. "If you want to stop I'm okay with it."

"I wouldn't mind stopping myself. It has been a while and I'm getting a little tired myself."

"Yeah, okay, sure."

The clothing store itself is wide but shallow. There's an extensive selection with mirrors spaces regularly around the store. The one thing it's missing are any apparent changing rooms. "Maybe there are changing rooms on the upper level?" Claire muses aloud. "I'm going to go check."

"Given the bathroom situation I wouldn't be surprised if there isn't. But sure, go check. And if not we'll figure something out."

Claire walks back down the stairs a minute later. "There are no changing rooms up there either. It has the lingerie section, and a lot more formal wear though."

"Maybe we could drag a few of the racks around to make a barrier?"

"Yeah, I think that could work," agrees Claire. "It might be easier to use the upper level, though that will probably make things slower. Yeah racks it is. Maybe over in the left corner with the winter coats? I don't think we need those just yet."

"Sure. Alex you wanna lend a hand here?"

"Sure, though, I'm not sure I'm more in shape than the rest of you." He walks over and together the three of them shift some clothing racks into a lose privacy divider. It'll only work if you crouch down a bit but it's serviceable. And there is a mirror inside the boundary.

"Cool, that works. On to shopping."

The two girls start picking out outfits. Anna goes for jeans and various casual tops. Linda goes for slightly more stylish attire.

Riley mirrors Anna's choices. Claire and Emily both pick out a mix of jeans, skirts and dresses along with matching tops. Alex picks up some jeans and khakis with a selection of button-down shirts, polo shirts, and t-shirts.

"Okay, I think that should be enough for now."

"It looks like it," agrees Riley. "Everyone ready to go?" She gets nods all around. "Alright, off to the phone store."

More biking then. Anna's getting tired.

"You need to stop nagging people about exercise and get some yourself!", teases Linda.

"I don't have the time."

"I wonder whether the clinic can substitute for exercise," Riley speculates. "The encyclopedia had an article on starvation and some of the mentioned treatments involved encouraging muscle regrowth."

"Maybe, though I'm inclined to be cautious with experimenting with things we don't really understand."

"Fair enough, it makes sense to be cautious with people's health." Riley looks ever so slightly disappointed though.

"I'm sure there's lots of fascinating things we can do with the clinic once we know more."

"I know, it's so exciting." Riley smiles widely.

"I do wonder why we're being given all this advanced technology, and 27000 stores worth of merchandise," Alex wonders. "If this were a story there would be some sort of catch."

Claire shudders. "Don't say that. Let's hope there isn't one."

"I hope not too. But there's really not much we can do about it, other then learn as much as we can about the place."

"Yeah, there's so much to learn," agrees Riley.

"It's pretty cool, except for being stranded. Hopefully temporarily."

"Yes, that is a problem, there's a limit to how much impact we can make if we're stuck here. And it'd be annoying to be separated from everyone else," agrees Riley.

Claire frowns, but doesn't comment.

"I think most of us are worried about losing our family and friends back home."

"Don't get me wrong, my parents are nice people, but we're not close. I hope we aren't stranded though, for all your sakes."

"Thanks," says Claire.

"Mhmm."

Biking.

It takes another fifteen minutes or so but they arrive at the satellite phone store. "We're here," Emily sing songs.

"Finally," says Claire. "I am not looking forwards to the trip back."

Alex gets off his bike and walks inside. This is one of the small stores, only about ten meters across. There are neatly stacked boxes of phones laid out along one wall. The rest of the store has accessories: headsets, longer cables, cases, screen covers, stands external keyboards and other somewhat more outlandish things like drones. Curiously missing are any chargers.

"Solar powered, or something more exotic do you think?"

Alex steps forwards and opens a box. The silver phone looks like a run of the mill smartphone, though it lacks the logo of any familiar brand. The only other thing in the box is a coiled cable with a hexagonal connector on each end. These match the port at the bottom of the phone. "The color seems to rule out solar power," Alex notes wryly. He pushes the power button and a stylized logo like the one on the library computers appears on the screen. It fades to show something that looks a bit like the OS on the library computers with apps for phone, texting, camera, and settings preinstalled. He tries the phone app first but an error message pops up on the screen. "No satellite connection. Please configure network," Alex reads aloud.

"The interface option on the library computers said something about connecting a device, maybe you can configure them from the computers."

"Yeah, maybe." He taps on settings but after a minute of tapping around he gives up. "I hope so, it doesn't look like there's a way to configure this from here."

"If we're going back how many phones should we take?" asks Riley. "I think it makes sense to take at least a couple spares in case we lose one or more people show up considering how long a trip it is out here."

"Take like 9 of them? We still need to get food so we don't want to stack the trailer with phones."

"Sounds good." Riley stacks up some boxes and deposits them in one of the trailers. "So, now we go back. Actually, maybe we should grab a couple of those drones. It might help with surface exploration. Cases too. I don't think there are repair shops around here so these phones need to last."

Alex nods. "Having the drones is probably wise. Same for the cases, you forgot about screen protectors though." Putting action to the words he picks up some of each and adds them to their collection.

"Oooh good idea. Those drones will be super useful. Do they come with cameras or do you have to get those separately?"

Alex picks back up one of the boxes and scrutinizes it carefully. "It says it has a pair of cameras."

"Super, I think that's everything here?"

"Yeah, I think so, there are other accessories but nothing I expect we'll need. If anyone prefers using a headset to holding your phone up to your face you should get one now." says Riley.

Alex and Emily each grab one for themselves.

Anna grabs one too. Linda doesn't bother.

Riley nods. "Alright, I think we're off then."

"Yeah, I think so."

Back on the bikes.

They have a long bike ride ahead of them, fourteen kilometers if they don't stop for breaks.

Yeah they will probably want to stop at some point, preferably at an interesting store.

There are lots of options to choose from. Food shops, Ice Cream Parlours, Hardware stores, Grocery stores other than the one Emily picked, hobbyist stores, places stocking knick-knacks, furniture stores, specialty clothing stores, electronics stores, and at least one camping store.

"Maybe we should poke around in that camping store, see what's there? Might have useful things for exploring the surface when we decide to do that and I think it's time for a break."

Claire nods, breathing heavily. "That, sounds fantastic."

The inside of the store is pretty normal, there's tents and sleeping bags featured prominently. There are freeze dried meals (just add water), camp furniture, and any number of trinkets intended to make your camping experience that much better, if you don't overstuff your bag with them.

On the more immediately useful side there are backpacks large and small.

"We should grab a few of those backpacks."

She grabs two small ones and a large one.

Riley walks around and ends up picking up a flashlight an electric lantern and an extra water bottle. "Everyone should probably grab a water bottle they like, if we're going to keep exploring it'll be important to stay hydrated."

Emily picks up a water bottle as recommended but also some rope, a couple emergency blankets and a towel. "Can't go wrong when you have your towel," she jokes.

Claire supplements her bottle with a nice pair of binoculars.

Alex just picks up a nice multitool and a bottle.

"Water bottles are an excellent idea."

Both girls grab nice sturdy bottles, after testing that the lids both close securely and are not a pain to open afterwards.

"This is definitely somewhere to keep in mind if we decide we need longer expeditions outside. Probably better to hold off on the camping gear for the moment though," notes Riley.

"Yeah, we don't have that much space on the trailer and we probably don't want to rush out on any overnight camping expeditions anytime soon. I've got a feeling they'll be plenty to keep us busy close by."

"Like the clinic. I can't wait to get back. Speaking of which is everyone feeling rested enough or should we find another store nearby to poke around in?"

Claire takes a deep breath. "I think I'm alright, I wouldn't turn down another couple minutes of downtime though."

"Think I'll be okay. We really should get back. There could be more people in the lobby by now and we still have to get food.."

"Okay," Claire gets back on her bike. The others join her and once more they're off. Six kilometers to the grocery.

Biking then. So much biking.

If this becomes a regular event they're going to be in very good shape. Finally, they arrive at the grocery store. Almost everything is in cabinets, freezers, or cases of one sort or another. Some are labelled while others have windows to show the food within. The only exceptions are the various paper plates and other non-food items.

Off they go sorting through the food items. Anna will prefer a good selection of fish and poultry and less red meat, partly skimmed dairy, yougurt, and also plenty of nuts.

Linda grabs a few cartons of various flavours of ice cream on the way through the dairy aisle.

"Hey, comfort food is good for mental health, in moderation of course."

"I wasn't going to say anything," says Claire. "I've exercised more than I have in weeks, we've definitely earned a treat."

"Fair enough. There is also frozen yogurt here."

She takes a carton of strawberry frozen yogurt.

Claire laughs. "Alright."

"Are there any non-food things we need here?"

"The kitchen seemed to have utensils, glasses, plates and cookware. Anything specialized enough to be missing likely isn't here," says Riley.

"Homeward then?"

"Yep, unless we're forgetting something Emily?" says Riley.

"Nope, I think we have everything."

"Finally," says Claire with a dramatic sigh. She smiles to show she's being dramatic.

"Well then, let's go. Snack food's a-melting."

And so they go, compared to the biking they've been doing so far the mere three kilometers left before home fly by and they're soon carefully walking their bikes up the ramp into the home complex.

"Shall we go check the lounge and put the kitchen things away in the kitchen?"

"Works for me," Riley agrees.

The others nod.

She leads the way, as they approach the lounge they can hear voices.

"Now we're stuck because you thought this would be 'funny'!" a female voice says.

"How was I supposed to know this was some kind of freaky sci-fi thing?", a male voice replies.

"Guys, guys don't fight okay?", a second male voice cuts in.

"Yeah! That's really not helping the situation, guys." agrees a different female voice.

"It sounds like we have new guests," Riley comments. "Who wants to make introductions?"

"Ooh, I like meeting new people," says Emily.

"I can make introductions. I think you might be a bit too enthusiastic Emily," says Alex.

"I'll help talk to people."

Alex parks his bike on the landing and then steps forwards and opens the door to the kitchen. "After you."

She goes through, "Hi."

Alex and the other girls follow. "Hi there, I take it you all came expecting a normal party?" Alex asks.

"Hi new people. This place is huge," says Emily.

One of the girls, a blonde says, "Yes, rather. Coming here was all Dave and John's idea in the first place."

A dark haired boy says, "I'm John and this is Rose and Dave and Jade!"

Jade says, "I think this is kind of cool actually. What all else is in this place?"

Dave leans against a wall casually, "it was totally the best idea."

Rose raises an eyebrow at him.

"Well there's a mall with 27000 stores, and lots and lots of bike paths and some sort of super-science clinic and a room with lots of board games and art supplies and probably more stuff waiting to be discovered. I'm Emily."

"I'm Alex, Emily has introduced herself, these are Linda, Anna, Claire, and Riley."

"Hello."

"Hi."

"What, no sweet sound room?"

"Daaaave." says John, "Nobody else cares about that."

"There's a movie room. But no sound room. You could probably find some sound equipment in the mall though."

"We also haven't explored the surface at all, there might be a music studio in another building."

"I'm totally in for exploring later!" says Jade.

"I'd just like to learn more about this place." says Rose.

"We'll show you guys the library and the computers after we put this stuff away. If you want to learn about this place that's the best resource we've found."

"Are any of you really into gardening or farming? There's a way to get special abilities if you take tests on the computer."

Alex looks thoughtful. "Hm, we should probably be careful about who gets to be the security guard. I get the impression they could make life really hard for the rest of us."

Jade says, "I love outdoors stuff, camping, gardening, all that stuff."

John says, "I really hope we don't need a security guard. I hope everyone can be friends!"

"The option for someone to become one isn't going away and having one might be useful for things other than restricting people's movements. It'd be a second person who can unlock doors for one thing."

Dave says, "Yeah, I got this."

John says, "Yeah if we need a security guard, Dave's actually pretty good at like, martial arts stuff."

Dave says, "Pretty good? I'm the coolest dude you know, and I have many skills."

Rose notes, "Modesty is not one of them, alas."

"I think the actual position is probably more about security systems than physical confrontations. Depending though maybe you should go for it."

"You might read through some of the information on the computers beforehand, it will give you a better idea of how things work."

Dave says, "I guess weird sci-fi places have weird sci-fi security. Still worth a try. I don't see anyone else stepping up the job."

"Not yet anyway." Emily starts bringing in food and putting it away in the various cabinets.

Anna and Linda and Jade start helping put things away.

"Weird how you can't tell which cabinets are refrigerated by looking." says Jade.

"It's like that in the mall too. It's sorta weird, some of the containers were heated there."

"Fascinating," says Rose, "I somewhat regret not knowing more of the physical sciences now.  Though perhaps this is all so advanced everyone is starting almost from scratch."

"I think my physics classes have helped a lot, but the physics known to the builders of this place is way beyond Earth's understanding."

"This is kind of exciting! Also worrying but..." says Jade.

"My dad's going to be super upset." says John.

"I'm still really hoping that there's a way to get home."

Emily puts down the food she's carrying and walks over to give Claire a hug.

"I think we'd all like to get home. But at least we can raid this place for advanced technological knowledge first."